Building Bridges

Passport Lost, Passport Found

Posted on October 17, 2012

A funny thing happened on the way to the Embassy of Ethiopia earlier this month…

I was in the process of getting the necessary visa clearances for the journey ahead, only to receive a call from the Embassy of Ethiopia. I had sent my passport, and the envelope arrived without the passport. The seal had come loose and the passport fell out.

I did think to get the passport reissued, but the cost seemed to be unreasonable, and including the lost fee and an express reissue would have cost over $400. So I decided to wait.

Yesterday, I received a welcome email from the Passport Office in Melbourne. The passport had been recovered and is on its way back to me.

With the loss of the passport, I made the decision to delay the start date of the 10 City Bridge run until 12 December 2012. Partly because my passport was missing, but also for some other pragmatic reasons:

• It doesn’t conflict with the US Election.
• It doesn’t conflict with the Korean Election.
• The start date 12.12.12 is a memorable number, and emphasises the starting figure for child mortality at the beginning of the Millennium Development Goals: 12 million under-five deaths per year in 1990.

The other good news is that I have also since developed a 16-page Supporters Passport which I am just about to send to all existing supporters to keep you guys informed. I welcome other people to become supporters through buying a passport for as little as $5 to help finance this journey. I am using the same site where I successfully crowdfunded the funding necessary to prove the concept for this journey. All supporters will receive a complimentary copy of the book ‘Life Bridge’ once it is published in early 2013.

Good to have my passport back. Please visit www.pozible.com/lifebridge to get yours for this journey, too.